Intentions to Marry, 1915 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840461, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1915e contains pages 1973-2618, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 2327

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1915

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

241

26 March 1915

Leonard Brinkman
Ethel Mary Barnett

Leonard Brinkman
Ethel Mary Barnett
💍 1915/2593

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

25
25

Wellington
Christchurch

4 months
19 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester St., Christchurch

234

26 March 1915

Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	241
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Brinkman	Ethel Mary Barnett
	💍 1915/2593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester St., Christchurch
Folio	234
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

242

26 March 1915

Winter Cole
Ruth Lilian Keen

Winter Cole
Ruth Lilian Keen
💍 1915/707

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27
25

Hornby
Hornby

20 months
2 years

St. Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton

2643

26 March 1915

Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

No	242
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Winter Cole	Ruth Lilian Keen
	💍 1915/707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Hornby	Hornby
Length of Residence	20 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton
Folio	2643
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

243

27 March 1915

Roydon Brooke-Taylor
Ida Winifred Foster

Roydon Brooke-Taylor
Ida Winifred Foster
💍 1915/406

Bachelor
Spinster

Optician
Clerk

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

214

27 March 1915

Registrar

No	243
Date of Notice	27 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roydon Brooke-Taylor	Ida Winifred Foster
	💍 1915/406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Optician	Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	214
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

244

27 March 1915

William Ingram
Frances Georgina Gundy

William Ingram
Frances Georgina Gundy
💍 1915/7928

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
Dressmaker

30
24

Spreydon
Riccarton

6 years
14 years

House of Mr. Gundy, 45 Elizabeth St, Riccarton

1724

27 March 1915

Rev. C. E. Ward, Methodist

No	244
Date of Notice	27 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ingram	Frances Georgina Gundy
	💍 1915/7928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	Dressmaker
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Riccarton
Length of Residence	6 years	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Gundy, 45 Elizabeth St, Riccarton
Folio	1724
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward, Methodist

245

27 March 1915

Major Bromley Wolfe
Susan Watson

Major Bromley Wolfe
Susan Watson
💍 1915/7913

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

29
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
6 months

St. John's Church, Christchurch

1709

27 March 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	245
Date of Notice	27 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Major Bromley Wolfe	Susan Watson
	💍 1915/7913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1709
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).